Tag Archives: Who’s Emma

DIANA is an electronically inclined pop band from Toronto whose primary members are Kieran Adams, Carmen Elle, and Joseph Shabason. After their 2013 album Perpetual Surrender earned them accolades from the likes of the New York Times, the Guardian, and NPR, DIANA toured a lot and then got back to work on new songs. The result is an excellent, emotionally raw yet playfully fun and infectious record called Familiar Touch, which is out now via Culvert Music. DIANA are gearing up to tour with a giant version of their band and are playing select Canadian and American cities in November and December. They were just in Guelph to play a show so we met up at CFRU for a conversation about studios with carpeting and linoleum, parquet and Parkay and margarine, I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter, nothing but margarine, a culture of butter in Newfoundland, hardcore butter people, Counting Cows, swimming lessons at a dairy farm, Nutella and honey, peanut butter and butter, Triumphant Schmeer, sweets, throwing out our lunches, ruining my parenthood, all-day cans of soda pop, five Pepsi’s a day, DIANA Googles Stuff On-Air, Caledon and Toronto and St. John’s and Cambridge, union stories, coffee vs. cola, Carmen growing up with all of the things in the Annex in Toronto, sushi, Trinity St. Paul’s Church, Gowan, the ROM and Raffi, decanning, children’s musicians and entertainers, Fred Penner’s indie-rock festival circuit, Stephin Merritt of Magnetic Fields, a four year-old and AC/DC, band merch for kids, Joseph growing up in Caledon with past guest Mike Deane, punk and emo bands like Sinclair, the Irish Centre in Brampton, small town bring downs, Bluetip in a basement, the Pete Best of southern Ontario post-hardcore, Who’s Emma in Kensington Market, when Carmen drove me around St. John’s, Kieran and Joseph end up going to the University of Toronto for music at the same time, percussion profs, living in St. John’s, fact-checking the DIANA bio, Carmen tells it like it is, synthesizer patron-saint and producer Roger Leavens, Kieran and Joseph singing, tweaking together, lyric editing for singing, Carmen’s passion, Elvis Presley and Frank Sinatra, Carmen’s a great vocal interpreter, what’s eating Kieran, a keyword, the song “Confession,” synthesized pop and comparisons to 1980s sounds, touring in President-elect Donald Trump’s America, the great political divide, smugness and hatred, Make America Great Again is now a hate crime, no surprising but life-altering, red and blue states, sadness, white folks should recognize their role in this new reality, Culvert Music in Toronto, the web is worldwide, the song “Cry,” and then it was like butter baby.

Constantines are a powerful and influential band who originally formed in Guelph, Ontario in 1999. After releasing four acclaimed and inspiring post-punk/rock ‘n’ roll albums, Constantines went on indefinite hiatus in 2010. The band have reconvened in recent months and Sub Pop reissued their classic 2003 album Shine a Light this past June. Constantines are playing a number of shows over the coming months, including stops in Sackville, NB (SappyFest, Aug. 3), Peterborough, ON (Peterborough Folk Festival, Aug. 22), Ottawa, ON (Arboretum Festival, Aug. 23), Toronto, ON (The Molson Canadian Amphitheatre w/ Arcade Fire, Aug. 29), Toronto, ON (The Danforth Music Hall, Oct. 2), Montreal, QC (Club Soda, Oct. 4), Vancouver, BC (Commodore Ballroom, Oct. 8), Calgary, AB (Commonwealth Bar & Stage, Oct. 9), and Edmonton, AB (UPDT Festival, Oct. 11). Here, Steven Lambke, Doug MacGregor, Dallas Wehrle, Will Kidman, Bry Webb, and myself discuss playing “Keep On Rockin’ in the Free World” with Jack Layton, Olivia Chow, and members of Barenaked Ladies, Dallas Good calls Dallas Wehrle, the yellow tape, unsafe seasonal tours, the freak hail storm at the Sasquatch! Music Festival, Paul’s Boutique and shows at Who’s Emma, Mike Haliechuk from Fucked Up set up a Captain Co-Pilot show, hardcore bands from the 90s, Monica Lewinsky and Bill Clinton, the video for “One” by Metallica, Mats Naslund and Wayne Gretzky, skiing, Glenview Park Secondary School, Dallas won the gym award, Rob Pal, I won the French award, Tyler Williams, Dallas liked industrial music, the high school airband showcase and Nine Inch Nails, Ted Lambke, discovering music in skate videos, Doug’s band Shoulder, the Button Factory in Kitchener, Pain Don’t Hurt, Gaffer, “New School Calypso (NSC),” Rob Pal named Captain Co-Pilot, the London hardcore scene, Hoover and Lincoln, why Shoulder ended, why Captain Co-Pilot ended, tiny ladies are time-consuming, the 37 Elizabeth Street house, Tony the landlord, Tom McKnight, bouncer dudes from the Palace, how Constantines started, Cambridge eyeroll, excited about bands like ourselves, Three Gut Records origin show, the song “Arizona,” Dallas recalls the hilarious legend of crusty punk/European road manager Jörg, that Sasquatch! Music Festival hailstorm story again, Dallas thought he might die, Will climbs the rafters, Ayr and Cambridge, Southwood Secondary School, Ayr house show, Patrick Swayze and Road House, this guy Ryan, Cambridge shows would always get shut down, the Mighty Fishermen, that guy Brent who ripped us off, we all had a crush on Jill Holmberg, Dallas and Steve and I played in a band called Dioctave, the Unfuckable Cum Bums, the bands Curb, Ground, and the Mighty Fishermen, Mr. Gouveia’s French class and Tony Tabu, work on your scales, Mr. Carbone’s guitar class got Dallas playing music, judhaynes.com, Metallica again but also Ministry, adding a drum machine to a three-piece punk band, playing in Dallas’ living room and Ted Lambke yelled at us about Black Sabbath, Minnow was a big influence on Captain Co-Pilot, Will became a Captain Co-Pilot fan and gave Steve a tape of his music at that show, Dallas wasn’t into HPX, small women, how Will joined Constantines at a recording session, Who’s Emma, Cons reunion, the song “Insectivora,” Bry’s the most frequent guest on this podcast except for Jon Spencer, acting and fakery, everyone assumes Constantines are very serious, playing the first reunion show in Guelph in June, 106 Huron Street, shy guys, playing in a newly-invented eco-village in Sweden whose design was partially influenced by Guelph, a social night for Swedish teens, dreams come true, being scared to death about selling out, integrity and the end of the Cons, returning with sensitivity, contemplating writing new songs with the Cons, expanding the tour dates to play a show with Arcade Fire in Toronto on August 29 and across more of Canada, as well as Seattle and Portland, the Danforth Music Hall, dealing with Cons stuff and Bry Webb and the Providers at the same time, Sackville and Dawson City, Sandbanks Provincial Park, Massey Hall footage, the song “Time Can Be Overcome,” and then time can’t be overcome.